(Ugh. Sorry about last night, Jay. I couldn't get near the computer at all.)

~Aoi Tsubasa Bridge~

"Derek-sama, we're reconnected to the AGGF network." Alexis reported, one hand on the console, while the other finished typing in commands on her laptop. "Annnd....done. Finally got that program off."

Barona nodded once, not really seeing much need to respond verbally.

"Alex-chan, Derek-sama." Fuyume piped up from her console. "I'm done with my sections. All the spy programs I found are quarantined off and ready for tracking."

Alexis nodded in response. "Alright, Fuyume-chan. We'll take care of that in a second--Huh?" Checking her console, she blinked. "Derek-sama, there's a message here for you."

"...Alright." Was all the reply Derek gave, as he reached over and checked his own console. Sure enough, there was a message for him, labeled "Your Eyes Only". The ID code was blanked out as well, only reading as "0000-0000".

From under his visor, Derek's eyes narrowed. He really wasn't in the mood for this kind of cloak and dagger bullshit right now. With half a mind to just delete it anyway, he opened the message, and was greeted with a red-lettered warning.

"You only have one chance to succeed. If Masaki Andoh has not been sent to the Tesla Leicht Institute within 24 hours of the time this message is written, the Institute will come under attack by an enemy force, with no survivors. If you wish to avert this fate, you must send the Cybuster immediately. Even a moment's delay could mean their deaths.

History does not wait for those that refuse to move."

00:11

In front of Derek's eyes, the "00:11" went to "00:10", obviously signifying that, despite just now having seen the omninous message, his time was already almost up.

Not thinking about it, Barona took to action. "Alexis. Do you know where Masaki is?"

"Huh?" The girl blinked, thrown by both the sudden question, and how her leader had suddenly jumped out of his bad mood to ask it. "Um....I think he's somewhere in the hangar, Hang on let me....Yeah, he's in the hangar. Why?"

Derek didn't answer her, reaching over and hitting the comm. "Andoh, you there?"

A few seconds passed, before the reply. "Uh, maybe? I'm kinda lost right now."

"Well, you're exactly where I need you to be. Can I get you to go run an errand for me?"

"Whaddya need?"

"I just got a job request. Think you can run out to TLI and safeguard a package for me?" Derek not-quite-lied. It wasn't the full truth, but it'd for the time being.

"Oh. Wow. That's a little out there for an errand, D." Andoh responded hesitantly. "We can't just head out there as one?"

"It's one of those "short notice" requests. The kind that a high-speed mech is perfect for." Again, not completely lying. "I'll make your cut 70%. Sound fair?"

"....Ah, sure. What the hell. I was tired of wandering the hallways anyhow. You are aware this ship has way too many hallways, right?"

"It's been mentioned before. Get going."

"Alright, alright. Good thing I ate last time I passed by the kitchen...."

Killing the comm, Derek looked over at Alexis again. "Keep an eye on him, and make sure he takes off within the next....five minutes. No later."

"Hai, Derek-sama." Alexis nodded. "But....why so suddenly?"

Barona glanced over at his screen again, and the bright red "00:07" at the bottom of it. "I just don't feel like waiting right now, that's all."

"Um...okay." Taking another look at her monitor, she nodded again, just before the Cybuster took off past the windows. "And launched. That should do it, then."

"Yeah." With a press of a button, the message was instantly deleted. He had no intentions of answering any questions about it during the middle of this security inquisition. Which reminded him. "Also, open up a line to the Duragreiz."

A few seconds later, and Bright appeared on the main screen. "...Derek?"

"I've got a new lead on this spy business, and I wanted to let you know."

"....Can it wait a few minutes?"

Immediately, Derek caught the worry in the captain's voice and realized something was up. "What happened?"

Bright looked away for a minute. "We spotted a small group of enemy units some distance away, and Jay and Shara went off to deal with them. A few minutes ago, we suddenly lost their signal."

"Wait, they went out ALONE?"

Bright nodded. "Looking at it now....It's obvious it had to have been an ambush. I should have tried to stop them, or..."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Bright. The whole AGGF's disorganized as hell right now, and it's getting us nowhere fast." Barona said as he quickly started doing the math. "We'll go help them out. If it's that bad of a trap, they'll probably need some good old fashioned carpet-bombing."

"It's what I do. But, in the meantime...." Derek's tone grew more serious. "You need to clean house. Now."

"What...?"

"Alexis found a bug program on her laptop from when she was helping out with that virus incident. If my guess is right, the whole Duragreiz is just one big information leak right now. We need to take care of this immediately."

".....I understand. We'll start right away."

"Good. And now we're off to save the UNS kids. Wish us luck." Derek said with a wave as he cut the comm. "Alright, Alexis. Take us out, and then immediately take us off the network again. I don't want whoever was listening to that to know how fast we're going."

"Hai, Derek-sama. Taking off now."

Derek sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin. "Let's just hope we can get there before the two of them admit they love each other and go out in a blaze of glory. I really want to get that on tape."

~Central Asia Airspace~

An armed force flew across the sky at a decent speed, headed towards a certain point. Two Tausendfusslers with ten modified Gespensts guarding them. In front of the group flew an Ashsaber and the GP-01fb custom variant "Zephyr". And in the lead, an R-Eins flew silently.

Inside the Eins' cockpit, the pilot let a small smile creep onto his face from under his mask. Everything, down to the last detail, was proceeding exactly as planned.....

dragonmasterjb0: Apparently, in the new series, Lina is arrested at one point on charges of being Lina Inverse.

The rest of the party, in typical Slayers fashion, gives a reaction to the effect of "Sounds reasonable."

Archer would be safe his shuttle was going in the opposite direction and Gai would ensure that he escaped. Elsewhere on base the Green and White gundam revealed itself from GN camouflage and flew to the deck of the Duragriez, where Gai boarded.

Gai: "Derek I'm coming too."

Michael: "Me too"

from behind Gai appeared the GN Flag F appeared and the two began to accelllerate towards the battle field

If you are a man you'll do what's important before you grieve -Captain Harlock

The Boxer staggered as a shot from a Lion struck the back of it's leg. The G Wall absorbed most of the impact, but little hits like that would add up. Swinging the roche saber up one-handed, Jaybee deflected a slash from a MP Huckey.

"Oh, so the bootlegs wanna play? Lemme show you what a REAL Huckebein can do!"

Using the Boxer's free hand, he delivered a vicious uppercut to the brown machine, shearing an arm off and knocking it into a Randgrith with a crushed shoulder cannon.

Stepping around the mess of debris, he boosted up, firing the gravity rifle at a Barrelion, damaging it. A G Impact shot came through and finished the job before the blast dissipated.

"I'd ask how we score that, but I'm not counting." Jaybee said, as he continued on.

"Good. Because that was mine." Shara said as she pulled up and flipped the Gunner 180, firing at a Huckebein before she rolled right-side up and disappeared into the swarm.

A salvo from a Barrelion team forced Jaybee back down towards the ground, as the Hazel Gundam raised it's rifle.

"You again? Look, I've got a date with your boss, so can you move?" Jay asked.

" I don't take orders from terrorists." the Hazel pilot responded. "Just know that Buchanan sent you to Hell."

Jaybee laughed as the Huckey did a quick zig-zag, throwing off the Hazel's aim. "A DC troop is calling ME a terrorist? That's great!" Whipping up the gravity rifle, he fired a reply. "But really, your boss over there is the terrorist."

"He's not my boss." Buchanan growled as he swung his rifle around, using the bladed edge as a sword. Jaybee hurled the Fang Slasher forward, and the Hazel's dodge made the sword crash into the ground.

"Hell of an engine you've got in those things." Jaybee commented as he leaped back, elbowing a Lion in the face before spinkicking a Huckebein and ducking a Randgrith's shoulder cannon shot.

"You'd be surprised the reactor you can fit in these when you take the cockpit out. They also have bigger guns." he mentioned casually, as a beam blasted a small crater where the Boxer had been standing a moment ago.

"Let's see if the old weakness still applies." Jaybee muttered as he whipped his rifle up and took a long shot at Rodriguez' GM. Rodriguez' machine spun to the side as the Balls flitted towards the Boxer. "Guess not."

"AI has made great strides since the One Year War." Rodriguez pointed out. "They can operate entirely autonomously, albeit at reduced effectiveness. "

"I hate bits. And drones. " Jaybee muttered as he moved into a crowd. Not that Rodriguez would hesitate to shoot his own men, but it gave Jay some cover. He kicked a Barrelion and slid past as the railgun fired, taking a burst of gunfire from a Lion in the back for his trouble, knocking off part of the empty trace missile pods.

Seeing some of Jay's predicament from the window and hearing it on the communicator he never remembered to give back, Matt suppressed his smile before anyone could notice it. The pilot, clearly not too bright, decided to start a little conversation. "Awful quiet back there, traitor." "I'm not a traitor, just a pain in the ass. There is a difference, you know." "You say that like it's a good thing.""You mean it isn't? How odd. It seems to work for most of AGGF. Still, can't say I'll miss you guys. Almost getting killed by someone who's supposed to be a comrade-in-arms kind of does that to you. Even if I do get in a cockpit again, I'll never fight by THEIR side. There are some things you just don't do, and remixing someone's near-death experience is definitely one of them."

The shuttle took off, speeding in the opposite direction of the battle, towards Belarus. Hopefully, they wouldn't be ambushed en route...

No sooner had assistance come than Jaybee was stunned by the latest enemy reinforcements.

"Chris?! What the HELL are you doing?" he shouted. The Boxer gestured to the GM towards the side. "You're fighting alongside RODRIGUEZ! You CAN'T believe the DC is anything more than thugs and murderers if they'll work with this sort of swine!"

"Thy words, they dost wound me, sir." Rodriguez came on, in an overdramatic tone, complete with gestures of sorrow, as Jaybee danced backwards to dodge the Balls yet again.

"I vowed once that if anything happened, I'd try to bring you back to your senses. And that if I couldn't, I'd stop you before you did something you'd regret."

Spinning to the side, the Boxer escapes a strike from Buchanan's finger cannons.

"Unfortunately, I'm no psychiatrist. If you don't stand down, I'll stop you in the only way I know how!" Jaybee shouted.

He'd never admit it outwardly, but Chris' appearance hurt him. I trusted this man. Jaybee thought. I don't give my trust easily. Was that a mistake? He'll really fight alongside this sort of butcher? Has it really come to... No. He's not willing to kill us. There's more than meets the eye here. There has to be. I'll continue to trust him... can I let him know that without drawing suspicion?

"I believe in you, Chris. I believe you'll do the right thing."He chose his words carefully. He hoped Chris got the message. They'd been fighting together for a good while now, but...

Rodriguez, enough! Colonel Van sent me to bring you back, and I have permission to fire if you do not comply!

*The Guarlion came to a slow hover, and pointed the beam rifle at Rodriguez*

And Jay knows, I won't hesitate to blow up our own side. Jay, I'm sorry, but the colonel's vision is much more than you think. He honestly has a love for this Earth. It's scum within the organization that tarnish its righteous name.

"My operation isn't over until I SAY it's over." Rodriguez snarled, as the dust and smoke whipped in the wind . "Know that I do not suffer fools. I'm feeling generous, so I will give you a chance to stand down before I add your Guarlions to the target list. Raise a weapon against me again, and you will be discarded like the trash you are."

Matt was shocked when he heard Chris mentioned on the comms system. So Chris-sempai joined them too? Yay! Wish I had a way to contact him, so we could work in the same squadron! He's still alive and I won't have to fight him, so even if I can't fight alongside him, at least I know he's alright! Matt was also grateful for his stoicism, and when the pilot started with "Must be glad your fellow traitor's alright," he was able to retort with a simple "Again, you're assuming that I actually give a shit. I just want to go back to having a quiet life, and you keep trying to provoke me. What the hell is your problem? Isn't enough for a guy to get nearly killed, humiliated by having his near-death remixed for laughs, and completely disowned by the only people he would have been able to return to? I guess not. I'm tired of ranting, I'm tired of AGGF, and I'm tired of you. Just shut up and launch this piece of rust."